Sanding the finish off the neck?

[Stainless]

I carry small (1.5"X1.5") pieces of moleskin. It is available in drug stores. I put it on my hand where it contacts the neck. The sticking problem goes away. I have not used it often, but it is handy to have if it is needed.

[Stephen Perry]

Other than feel, removing finish allows light reshaping of the neck, which often improves play, and allows setting up the resonance of the neck a little bit, which sometimes helps things along. At the very least, I'll adjust the shape to be nice and parallel, distorted cone without lumps.

I've used just mineral oil, mineral oil with wax, and sometimes a very thin polished on shellac. Dye the wood first with aniline amber. I remove the finish with scrapers.

[Phil Goodson]

I've done the 'speed neck' thing on several high end instruments. One was so I could reshape the neck from a fat U shape to a thinner V shape. Couple others because the sticky feel just bugged me.
The resulting smoothness was all about 'feel' , not about 'speed'. I usually finish up by taking a single drop of Tru-oil on my finger and rubbing it into the unfinished wood, and then after 2 hours, rub it out with 4-0 steel wool and repeat. Protects the wood and makes a glassy surface that feels SO good and natural! And isn't sticky!

Some necks don't need this. My last mando has a thin finish that has NO sticky feel whatsoever, and I've never been tempted at all to do anything to it.